Do I 'need' a Kelly Kettle?!

We went on a camping trip once with our kelly kettle, 8 month old baby, formula and bottles. DH spent almost the entire three days we were away cutting up kindling and boiling water. In the end we came home. It looks fab but even the 'Man Make Fire - ugg!' schtick wears thin in the end.

That said, if you just want the odd cup of coffee here and there, there is nothing better.

WE have a ETA Solo ( same as a jet boil both around £80) boils 0.5L of water in 2.5 mins so its the fastest brew from a portable stove.The Kelly in my opinion is too much trouble, its dirty after use too, we had one and sold it.WE only bother if its remote but most of the time its easier to take a flask and cheaper

My fave campsite is an organised wild camping one in the middle of the Woods so loads of dry sticks there. I also have an adaptor to use it on the Cobb so it works well elsewhere too if I have that with us.

A quality flask is better for days out. Kelly Kettles are good for camping but only if you have a regular supply of dry twigs. And they are inextricably linked with patterned wellies, bunting and general middle clarseness in my mind (which may be slightly skewed I'll admit).

Having tried it 'properly' with bits of leaves and pine cones etc I have found it takes fucking ages to light though - nowhere near what the you tube vids look like! I reckon they've soaked their twigs in petrol.

Now I make sure I take some paper and a firefighter to get it going then feed it with sticks and it works great. There may be more practical solutions like a cafe or a flask but they don't appeal to my inner pyro.

Bit of a damp squib we found. Seems like a big old faff having to spark up a fire every time we want a brew (caffeine addicts) so we ended up bringing a huge flask to put the boiled water in so we only had to boil water a couple of times a day, which sort of defeats the object, could have done the same with the £10 gas burner.

Still love it, but mainly because it was dh's present to me on our 10th wedding anniversary which I'm sure says a lot about us as a couple!

a £44 kelly kettle is 11 visits to the cafe for 2 people to have a £2 cup of coffee. If you go every weekend then obviously it's a good investment. Otherwise at 6 properties over the summer it's going to take 2 years and you may as well buy your drinks!